Coming through a screen near you - [consumer tech 3d content]

2009 looks set to be the year for 3D, as industry leaders at the big consumer tech trade shows showcased their 3D content capabilities using TVs already available to consumers -E&T investigates. The image of filmgoers wearing headache-inducing cardboard glasses as filtered red and green monsters leaped out of the screen is a thing of the past. 3D, originally a film-based experiment, has finally been cracked with digital processes and polarised light. As a result of this glacially-paced revolution, cinema, TV broadcasting, gaming and even outdoor advertising are finally looking in depth at 3D display technology especially as it has begun to establish itself as a successful reality rather than another false dawn. For that dawn to represent the beginning of an era of 3D innovation, a whole set of issues need to be resolved. For starters, there is the requisite standards competition to officiate, in the grand tradition of VHS vs Betamax and HD-DVD vs Blu-ray. Three main stereo 3D display technologies are in the running: active, passive and autostereoscopic. The first requires shutter glasses for use with Digital Light Processing (DLP) and plasma screens; the second requires polarised glasses; and the last requires no glasses at all. Each of these types take different input formats: interleaved, interlaced and checkerboard. Unsurprisingly, preferences differ, however many agree that certain technologies are standing out.